Before seeing your Optometrist, you'll have an eye health screening, which will include a check for any underlying eye conditions, as well as broader conditions, such as high blood pressure.
It's important that you tell your Optometrist about your general health and any medication you may be taking. That's because certain medical conditions and prescription drugs can affect your vision. We'll also ask about any family-related health problems, such as diabetes.
Although the names may be unfamiliar, these are the pieces of equipment used most often in an Eye Test. If you have any questions about our testing equipment, your Optometrist will be happy to explain.
Although taking just a few seconds, the autorefractor test can determine if you need prescription glasses or contact lenses to correct your vision. It does so by gauging the eye's focusing power and how it processes light.
This essential bit of equipment is used to measure the pressure inside your eyes, based on their resistance to a puff of air. It provides valuable information about the health of your eyes and can highlight more serious vision problems, such as glaucoma.
This gives us a detailed photograph of the back of your eyes. This can reveal a lot about your eyesight, your overall well-being and can even detect underlying health conditions. It also gives us a permanent record of your eye health.
This is used to determine if you have any 'blind spots' within your peripheral vision. During the test, you'll be asked to look at a spot in the centre of the machine and respond to the lights flashing around this central target.
The Snellen test uses the familiar chart which has a series of letters of different sizes, ranging from the largest at the top to the smallest letters at the bottom. During this test, you'll be asked to read from the chart to determine the accuracy of your eyesight.
By observing how the eye processes a beam of light, the retinoscope can determine if you are nearsighted, longsighted or have an astigmatism. It also helps your Optometrist determine the proper prescription of any corrective lenses that might be needed.
In some cases, eye sight can vary between eyes. To measure how well your eyes work together we do a fixation disparity test. This determines how much correction may be needed to balance your eyesight, which is done with a prism in the lenses of your glasses.
By shining a thin sheet of light into the eye, these two instruments provide a magnified and detailed 3D view of the eye structure, from the front right to the optic nerve at the back. They are often used in conjunction with a hand-held ophthalmoscope.
When the eye test is completed, your Optometrist will go through the results with you. This will include a discussion about your eye health and whether you need corrective lenses or, if you already wear glasses, a change of prescription. Of course, they'll also answer any questions you have related to your vision.
If your vision does need correcting, contact lenses are a convenient alternative to glasses, especially if you have an active lifestyle. You will, however, need to have an initial assessment with one of our specialist contact lens Optometrists. This can be booked on the day of your eye test or online at a later date.
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